OF PARANOIA, PANDAMONIUM AND PANDEMICS . . .
THE BEST LENT EVER
A REFLECTION
The Third Week of Lent . . . halfway through our journey to the cross and to the tomb. And what a strange journey it has been so far – a Lent like no other we’ve ever experienced in our lifetime – one of fear and paranoia, of pandemonium and pandemics. Who could have imagined on Ash Wednesday, three weeks ago, that words like “social distancing,” “curfew,” “quarantine,” and “lockdown” would become part of our day-to-day vocabulary. Who could have imagined three weeks ago that schools would be closed, shopping malls would be shut down, shelves in supermarkets would be empty and things like toilet paper and bottled water would be hoarded? And three weeks ago, who ever would have envisioned in their worst nightmare that something as beloved to us as the celebration of the Mass, the Sacraments and cherished traditions like the Stations of the Cross would be suspended. Yes, a Lent like we’ve never known. BUT maybe, in the midst of the Lent like we’ve never known, perhaps . . . just maybe . . . perchance . . . we are being called to experience the BEST LENT EVER. Perhaps, this year, our Lord wants something more of us. Just maybe he doesn’t want the easy, well-scheduled, pre-packaged Lents of the past passively received in our hands from Father or Deacon or by Mother Church herself. Perchance this Lent we are being called to a sacrifice that costs us more, to a prayer that is more sincere and fervent, to a love that struggles and is more demanding. A DIFFERENT KIND OF LENT . . . more creative, more spiritual, more powerful, more transformational.
The three pillars of Lent are prayer, fasting (sacrifice), and almsgiving (charity). Let’s relook at each of these in light of the situation we find ourselves in this Lent:
Prayer
- Reach Out and Touch: This is not a time when we should be “social distancing” ourselves from God. Rather we should be using this time as an opportunity to draw closer to our Lord, and to do the very thing we’ve been told to avoid doing to each other: to touch him . . . to place ourselves more and more into his hands and, conversely, to open our hands to receive him in our lives - to allow him to touch us, to have a union with him that is deep and intimate.
- Boredom: Is boredom one of the consequences you’re feeling because of the inflicted or self-imposed lockdown? Can’t escape to the mall, no play dates, no school, no dance or sporting activities for the kids, no romantic meals in a favorite restaurant, no get-a-way vacations. STUCK - surrounded by the same four walls day in and day out, week after week – BORED! You know, I’ve often viewed boredom as a gift. I think sometimes God gifts us boredom as an opportunity to have a relationship with him. God knows human nature better than we do and God knows how busy we are. And so, he gives us boredom as time to fit Him into our lives. In our twenty-first century society, we’ve invented lots of ways to deal with boredom. We call it social media: Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, texting, etc. Bored? Just reach for your cell phone – there’s an app for that! But how about transforming boredom into sacred time instead? How about using it as the time we lift our minds, our hearts, our souls, our words to God in prayer? And rather than technology running interference with our relationship with God, maybe it can now enhance our relationship with Him. There’s lots of apps out there that we can use to help us pray the Rosary or the Divine Mercy Chaplet, to read scripture, to meditate, or even to set the mood in prayer with reflective music. May I recommend to you the Relevant Radio app and also Dr. Edward Sri’s weekly podcast, All Things Catholic (https://edwardsri.com/all-things-catholic/) and Bishop Robert Baron’s meditations on the Stations of the Cross (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJNjtA-Awb4 )
- The Domestic Church: In the early Church, in the face of persecutions by the Roman government and Jewish leaders, house churches were places where the early Christians gathered in safety for the “breaking of the bread” (the Eucharist). After Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity with the Edict of Milan in 313 AD, Christians no longer needed to celebrate the Eucharist in the secret security of their homes and now were free to venture out in safety and erect church buildings to worship in, such as we have today. In our present situation, when the celebration of the Mass in our parish churches has been suspended, a wonderful opportunity has been presented to us - a gift: to transform our homes into house churches, sacred spaces to praise God, to listen to his Word, and to become united with our Lord through a Spiritual Communion. And so, I encourage you to worship at mass through the masses broadcast on television, radio and the internet. Many parishes, including our own, have begun to livestream the celebration of the Eucharist. The website: www.mass-online.org lists all the televised Masses that are available and allows you to simply click a link to watch them. But let’s be careful with our attitudes about these Masses . . . Let’s not just watch as if it were an entertainment. Let’s participate in the Mass by praying the responses out loud, by sitting and kneeling and standing just as we would if we attending Mass in church. And, deprived of receiving the physical Eucharist, let’s not forget to offer the prayer of Spiritual Communion:
My Jesus,
I believe that You
are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.
I love You above all things,
and I desire to receive You into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment
receive You sacramentally,
come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You.
Amen.
Perhaps after the Mass suspension is lifted, we will return to our church with a greater appreciation and a greater love for that of which we have been deprived.
- “The Family that Prays Together Stays Together.” That was a popular saying when I was growing up, coined by Fr. Patrick Peyton, the “Rosary Priest,” the founder of the Family Rosary Crusade. Saints, popes, and the Blessed Virgin Mary herself, at Fatima, stressed both the importance and the benefits of praying the Rosary. Next to the Mass itself, the Rosary is the most powerful prayer we have. If you currently don’t, why not start praying it? What have you got to lose except maybe twenty minutes of your time? And why not pray it as a family? If you do, you will be giving your children a powerful tool, a wonderful tradition and a beautiful memory that they will cherish for the rest of their lives.
Sacrifice
“Offer It Up!” How many times I heard that as a kid by my mom and by the nuns who taught me in school! Offer it up! Offer up the headache, the cold, the inconveniences, the heartaches, the disappoints as a sacrifice. Uniting our sacrifices with that of Jesus’ on the cross has great spiritual benefit. Offer it up! It’s a notion that, sadly, is lost in our world today. In a world of pleasure and immediate gratification, I doubt very much our children have ever heard it, much less know what it means. Lent is a time of sacrifice, and this year it seems we’re being called upon to sacrifice a lot more than cookies, candy and chips, wine before dinner and meat on Fridays. What we are being asked to sacrifice is great: social interaction, school, social engagements, the freedom to be where we want when we want, the foods we crave but are now sold out at ShopRite. And perhaps the greatest sacrifice of the all – attendance at mass and participation in the Sacraments. We’re being called to sacrifice more than we want, more than we ever had to before. But let’s make these things more than just sacrifices; let’s make them offerings. Let’s offer them up for our health, the health of those who have contracted the virus, for the doctors and nurses who selflessly treat them, for those who are feeling more alone than ever, for the people we love, for the things that we need, for the person we said we would pray for but never did, for the Church, for our priests (and maybe even for a certain deacon you know). Let our sacrifices ascend to the throne of God like burning incense and be united with the cross of Christ and have the power to transform us and the whole world.
“For you do not desire sacrifice or I would give it;
a burnt offering you would not accept.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a contrite, humbled heart, O God, you will not scorn.” (Psalm 51: 19-19)
Almsgiving
“Charity Begins at Home.” With quarantines, lockdowns and curfews being put into effect, we may be temporarily prohibited from practicing the almsgiving, the acts of charity, that we had planned to: bringing Communion to the sick, visiting the elderly and homebound, serving in a soup kitchen, volunteering at Roxbury Social Services, etc. And along with quarantines, lockdowns and curfews comes forced family time, which to some may be a blessing and to others may be a curse. Being realistic, the stress that we’re all experiencing, and all that “togetherness,” may result in short fuses, hot heads, sharp tongues, icy glares and fiery stares. Through it all, let’s remember that charity begins at home. And so, this Lent, maybe our Lord is asking us to practice having generous spirits, the patience of a saint, a little more understanding, a lot more love and a heap of compassion, with a bit of empathy thrown in. Jesus said, “This is how all will know that you are my disciples, by the love you have for one another.” (John 13:35). In these difficult times, let this be true in how we treat each other, and, especially, how we treat the members of our own family.
Finally, a warning: I have heard some people say that all that we are going through, especially being deprived of the Mass, the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation, is the work of Satan. DON’T! Please STOP! To do so impowers Satan by giving him the credit (or the blame). It credits him with being more powerful than he is. Whereas I’m sure Satan is reveling in the fact that we are now deprived of receiving the Eucharist and going to Confession, he isn’t the cause of it. Did Satan create the corona virus? Nope, Satan doesn’t have that ability. He’s not a creator, only a destroyer. Are our bishops now evil collaborators with Satan that they now deny us access to the Mass and Sacraments? Nope, just good shepherds who care for the health of their flock, who, like a parent, have been called upon to make difficult and perhaps unpopular decisions out of love. The will of Man is temporary . . . the will of God is eternal. Let’s not let fear or disappointment blind us to the truth: God is in control; only He is the All Powerful One, not Satan. And NOTHING “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8: 38-39).
And so, yes . . . A DIFFERENT KIND OF LENT. Maybe nature itself mirrors this. On Monday, driving to work, I noticed the forsythia in bloom. Never can I remember them in bloom this early! Forsythia, for me, is always the first sign of spring. SPRING . . . from death NEW LIFE! And isn’t that what Lent and Easter are really all about?
